How Minerals Form

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Vocabulary

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Solution: A mixture where one substance dissolves into another
Vein: A thin channel or slab of mineral that's different from the rest of the rock around it

Outline

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Processes that Form Minerals

• minerals have been forming on Earth for several billion year
  • can be formed in two ways- Crystallization of melted materials, or dissolved materials in water
    • processes in where atoms are arranged with a type of structure

Minerals from Magma

• When liquid cools to solid- becomes/ forms a crystal
  • depends on rate which magma is cooling
• magma that rises to surface cools faster than than magma in the ground

Minerals from Hot Water Solutions

• some elements that make a mineral dissolve in hot water
• pure metals that have been crystallized can from veins
  • sometimes hot water/ metals fall through cracks crystallizes into veins

Minerals Formed by Evaporation

• Minerals can form when solutions evaporate
• thick Haltite forms over millions of years
• other minerals can be formed when seawater evaporates

Where Minerals are Formed

• Earth's crust is made mostly of rock forming minerals combined in rock
  • sometimes they bring them together in deposits
• many valuable minerals are formed near mountains of mountain buildings

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